WILTON MANORS, Fla. – An exchange of gunfire between police and a drug suspect ended with one man injured, a Cadillac with its windshield riddled with at least a dozen bullets, and two deputies placed on administrative assignment while an investigation is conducted.
SKY 10 flew overhead during the late afternoon Friday as a group of unmarked police cars surrounded the vehicle in the parking lot of a nursing facility in the 2600 block of North Andrews Avenue, just south of Oakland Park Boulevard.
Around 2:30 p.m., detectives with Broward Sheriff’s Office Crime Suppression Team from the Deerfield Beach district were involved in a narcotics investigation and were trying to apprehend a man armed with a gun, according to police. They pulled down a side street off North Andrews Avenue to stop the wanted drug suspect, and that’s when police say, he started shooting at them.
A handgun could be seen on top of the silver Cadillac from SKY 10 over the scene.
Veda Coleman-Wright, public information office director, Broward Sheriff’s Office, said: “At that encounter, shots were fired and the subject was injured and taken to an area hospital.” She also said the investigation remains in the preliminary stage.
Although activity was centered around the Wilton Manors Health and Rehabilitation Center, the incident was not directly related to the facility, officials said. No one inside the facility was in any danger. Detectives said there were no other suspects and deputies were not injured.
The suspect was transported to Broward Health Medical Center, but his condition and identity have not been released.
A crew was in the back of the Wilton Manors facility doing electrical work when the shooting took place. One worker said he thought what he saw was a routine traffic stop. “Three seconds later, they were shooting,” the electrician said. He took cover behind a wall and remembered hearing at least a dozen gunshots.
Per BSO standard policy, the two deputies who fired their weapons have been placed on administrative assignment pending further investigation.